This National Recovery Month, ACF celebrates and supports the individuals and families who play a crucial role in providing recovery support during their loved one’s journey. We know that together we are stronger, and recovery takes all of us—individuals, providers, government, and communities. We understand and recognize the importance of prevention and treatment for mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders and are proud to support and promote recovery with grants, research, and national technical assistance efforts such as the Head Start Heals campaign, which supports the social, emotional and behavioral health of children, families, and staff.

– Administration for Children and Families Acting Assistant Secretary, Jeff Hild-

NACoA thanks Assistant Secretary Jeff Hild and everyone for remembering and supporting children and families during Recovery Month, and all year long! Families can – and do – recover together, with hope and supportive services. Together, we can improve the health of families for generations to come

This month, NACoA’s Children’s Program Kit online curriculum and On-Demand training program launched to its initial 40 sites thanks to the program Children Deserve Recovery, Too! Project. Selected sites already support children in under-resourced and underrepresented communities who have been adversely affected by alcohol and/or opioid use disorder. This project is providing life-changing educational support to children impacted by family addiction through a variety of programs that sites will be able to create and implement in the year ahead. NACoA’s Children’s Program Kit provides over 100 skill-based and developmentally appropriate lesson plans and everything needed to offer a strong and effective educational support program to school age children K-12. NACoA is grateful to Alkermes for this incredible opportunity.

Contact Director of Programs Mary Beth Collins for more information about NACoA’s Children’s Program Kit, now available online!

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) just announced a new section on their website containing interactive activities to help parents, caregivers, and teachers introduce and reinforce key messages about peer pressure, resistance skills, and other important topics related to underage drinking. The first three sections contain an overview, handouts, and role-playing exercises. The overviews provide background information to help you prepare to discuss alcohol and peer pressure with middle schoolers. The handouts are designed to be given to middle schoolers. The role-playing exercises are designed to be led by an adult and consist of two parts—a guide for the adult leader and a script for the middle schooler to read aloud. This is valuable information for caring adults working with this age group with the desire to educate about alcohol, the power of peer pressure, and how to use resistance strategies to maintain safe boundaries when confronted with opportunities to drink.

National Family Treatment Court Program – Training and Technical Assistance division of Children and Family Futures is providing a community-wide online conversation event to discuss this important topic. Twenty percent of all child welfare removals in 2020 involved infants under the age of 1. Bonding and attachment in these early months are crucial to the health of the parent-infant relationship and the infant’s overall well-being. Many families involved in the child welfare system face significant disruptions to healthy relationship development, such as separation, parental substance use, and mental health disorders. This session will highlight the science of bonding and attachment while noting strategies to support the parent-infant relationship in families affected by substance use.

Each year during Red Ribbon Week, individuals, schools, and communities across the United States show their commitment to a healthy, drug-free lifestyle by wearing or displaying a red ribbon. This annual event offers a great opportunity for parents, teachers, students, and community members to raise awareness of the problem of drug use and misuse. This year’s Red Ribbon Week theme: Be Kind to Your Mind, Live Drug Free. The DEA has created the Red Ribbon Week Toolkit to help make participation easy, complete with downloadable graphics, fact cards, student and parent pledges, and ways to support  Red Ribbon Week in schools and communities. The DEA and its partners are sponsoring the Red Ribbon Week Campus Video PSA Contest and the National Red Ribbon Rally will be held virtually on October 12th.

Red Ribbon Week Photo Contest 2023

Starting October 1st, students, families, and schools nationwide are encouraged to partake in the 13th Annual National Red Ribbon Week Photo Contest. This favored tradition, designed to raise awareness about living a drug-free life, is sponsored by the National Family Partnership (NFP) and co-sponsored by longstanding partner, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The contest coincides with National Red Ribbon Week and will award over $20,000 to K-12 schools in various cities across the U.S.

National Family Day puts the spotlight on the people in our families who make our lives meaningful. Families come in many forms and sizes, formed under a variety of circumstances these days. Addiction can place an unbelievable burden on relationships and the family unit, but it is important for everyone to find the separation of the person you love and the disease you hate.

National Family Day is a chance to remember the family members we love, connect with them if it is healthy to do so, and spend time with the people we love most. Family, biological or chosen, can provide a wealth of support, unconditional love, and safety.

NACoA is proud to prioritize healthy family living and nurture the support and services provided across the country through the whole-family recovery program Celebrating Families! and its adaptations: ¡Celebrando Familias!, and the Celebrating Families!/Wellbriety partnership. This evidence-based, trauma-informed, skill building program supports the entire family: children ages birth -18, their parents and caregivers. Celebrating Families! and its adaptations are being implemented in over 40 states, Washington D.C., and Alberta (Canada), restoring healing living and wellness to families, and often to multiple generations. It is a beautiful way NACoA lives its mission to eradicate the adverse impact of alcohol and drug use on children and families.

Here are some great things families can do to prioritize family on this designated day:

1) Enjoy a Meal With Your Family: A family meal nurtures each member of the family. Although healthy meals are best for growing bodies, it’s the time preparing, enjoying, and cleaning up the meal together that makes the meal so supportive for families.

The Family Meal:

• Reduces the likelihood to use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs. 4X less likely to smoke, 3X less likely to use marijuana, 2X less likely to drink. (*When families share 3+meals together each week)
• Helps build a sense of belonging. Provides an opportunity to come together, strengthen ties, and build better relationships. Allows parents a chance to be role models.
• Helps teach children about family values and traditions.
• Allows families to enjoy each other’s company. Positive communication, the family meal is not a time for difficult conversations or discipline.
• Provides an opportunity for the family to work together. Relationships are enhanced when family members work together to discuss menus, shop, prepare food, and enjoy together. Everyone’s contribution is meaningful!
• Establishes routines. Provides a sense of security. Children thrive on predictability—knowing what will happen and when.

2) Write a Gratitude List about Your Family: An attitude of gratitude is such a healing activity for each member of the family. A daily routine of appreciation and expressing gratitude helps any child or teen, reducing stress, improving health and wellbeing, and improving the feeling of contentment. It increases positive emotions, relishes the good in experiences, and helps bring balance to days plagued with difficulty, anxiety, and/or depression. If safe and appropriate, consider having each person in the family share one of the things on the gratitude list with the family.

3) It Takes a Family, 2nd edition (Hazelden, 2021): This is a great read to help families  impacted by addiction step beyond the initial family intervention and reinvent their relationships in a way that builds trustworthiness, prevents relapse, and supports lifelong sobriety. It is a journey the newly recovering loved one and family take together and quickly find an indispensable part of their lives. This second edition of the groundbreaking book by acclaimed interventionist and educator Debra Jay celebrates the unique and powerful role families play in successful long-term recovery from addiction. Readers receive tips, tools, and a framework for pursuing the proven path of Structured Family Recovery.

Help NACoA raise money to bring hope to children impacted by addiction during Recovery Month. During September, NACoA wants to raise $30,000 to help the children impacted by the disease of addiction in their families. These kids & teens are so often frightened and alone, but your $30 donation can help us bring hope and healing to their lives.

Contact Us:

nacoa@nacoa.org |301.468.0985

National Association For Children of Addiction

615 Baltimore Pike, STE H #1158
Bel Air, Maryland, 21014